Never Ever
by LozieDeanon
Summary: Alpha/Omega AU. Kotetsu is a widower, low-ranked hero, and biologically submissive Omega. When Hero TV introduces a new hero, an Alpha named Barnaby, Kotetsu's life gets a hundred times harder as he tries to deflect Barnaby's advances and still do his job. Finding true love is the furthest thing from both of their minds... Deanon from the T&B Anon Meme, K/Tomoe, B/K
1. Small Town Omega

A fill from the Tiger and Bunny Anon Meme. Prompt: _Alpha/Omega AU. Wild Tiger is the only Omega hero and has staunchly refused every Alpha he's ever met. The network likes to tease his availability (like "Who could tame this _Wild _Tiger?") Then, Hero TV brings in Barnaby, who is young, good looking, and an Alpha—a perfect match for the Omega Kotetsu. Barnaby assumes Kotetsu will do as he says, but ends up flat-out rejected, since Kotetsu is used to turning down arrogant Alphas who think they can own him. On top of all their other problems, Kotetsu and Barnaby have to find a way to be partners, even while Barnaby remains intent on claiming Kotetsu for his mate, on-camera if possible._

Warnings: Can be read with some dubcon, of the aphrodisiac variety.

* * *

Kotetsu couldn't actually remember when he first found out about Scenting. It was something that had been around since before anyone cared to remember, and when he was growing up, the most Kotetsu heard about it was on TV. In some shows, there'd be characters who, rather than having a boyfriend or girlfriend, had an "Alpha" or "Omega." He sort of worked it out that certain people fit in a certain category, and people in that category always paired up, like the two halves of a strip of Velcro. Somewhere along the line, maybe in a health class, he got a scientific explanation of what Scenting really meant. A number of individuals—by no means a majority, but certainly more common than NEXTs—create very strong pheromones that certain other Scented people can smell. These pheromones make compatible pairs absolutely irresistible to each other. _Sexually_ irresistible. It broke down into a game of mix and match, always sending off one dominant Alpha with one submissive Omega. Man and woman, woman and man, man and man, woman and woman. It didn't matter so long as the Alphas and Omegas paired.

Through that entire explanation, Kotetsu just thought, _This is way weirder than NEXT powers. So why do people pick on NEXTs but have no problem with Scenting?_

Then, about a year after Kotetsu met Mr. Legend, his annual physical at the doctor's office started to include a weird test. The doctor swabbed some cotton under his jawbones and along his neck, then ran the swab through some chemicals. The first time it happened, the doctor said nothing, threw the sample out, and continued with the physical. It happened again the next year, and the doctor also ignored those results.

Finally, when Kotetsu was thirteen years old, that simple swab changed his life forever (which made the third time his life had been changed forever: once gaining powers, once meeting a real hero, and now, this). The doctor ran the sample through that little chemical bath, but instead of tossing it out, the doctor stared at the chemical reaction that had apparently occurred.

"Oh," he said. "_Oh._ Very interesting."

"What is it?" Kotetsu said, shifting a little on the doctor's table. His heart already started to sink.

"Well, as you've no doubt heard at school, Scenting emerges during puberty," the doctor explained. "And you, young man, are Scented—an Omega cued for a male Alpha."

It took Kotetsu a minute to process what that actually meant. He swallowed the Omega part easily enough—though he didn't like it—but choked when he comprehended that his 'cuing' meant that the Alphas interested in him would be other dudes. He hadn't _thought_ he was gay, and being told at the freaking _doctor's office _made his guts tangle up in knots. The doctor did his best to explain that Scenting did not dictate his sexual orientation. It was more like a supplement: Kotetsu could be straight and still Scented for male Alphas. The male Alphas that were Scented for him could be straight, too. And of course, Scenting wasn't destiny, either. Kotetsu could spend his life with an unScented companion of either sex, if he chose.

"It's just useful to be aware of your biology, so you won't be surprised when you start noticing Alpha Scent," the doctor said.

Kicking his feet against the exam table, Kotetsu asked, "Why would an Alpha surprise me?"

With a small smile, the doctor reached up on a high shelf and retrieved a flask with a small scrap of white cloth inside. He uncorked it and let Kotetsu smell its contents.

Nothing.

"I don't smell anything," Kotetsu reported.

"As expected," the doctor said. "That's the Scent of an Alpha female cued for males. You're male, but you're not cued for females, so you can't smell it." The doctor returned the flask, chose another nearly identical one, and passed it to Kotetsu to smell.

Again, nothing.

"That was an Omega male cued for males. Or, the pheromone that your sample matched." The doctor put that flask back and chose again. "Now, do you smell anything this time?"

Kotetsu sniffed it. The instant the air entered his nose, wonderful warmth blossomed through his entire body. His vision blurred, his bones turned to jelly, and his pulse thumped hard in his chest. It smelled like electricity and happiness and lazy Sunday mornings and the strongest spirits from the liquor store and every bad word he knew used in all the good ways. His spine sagged a little, leaning toward the flask, and he wanted nothing more than to clutch the little bottle and just _breathe_ that magical scent for hours, filling him with the sensation of bliss and peace.

The doctor pulled the flask away after a few seconds and looked knowingly at Kotetsu. "Did that smell good?"

Face burning like a furnace, since apparently the doctor could tell exactly how much he had enjoyed that odor, Kotetsu stared at his sneakers. "Kinda," he grunted. "I mean, whatever."

"That is an Alpha male cued for males, the pheromone compatible with your Scenting. It's a very desirable smell, and you're going to start smelling very desirable to Alphas in turn."

"Wait—wait, is that going to happen _every_ time I meet an Alpha? How close do they have to be to smell me? Can they smell me already? Will it be that bad every time?! What if it happens in public and—"

The doctor held up a hand and silenced Kotetsu. "Please don't worry. First off, you won't smell anything this strong in the street. This is a hyper-concentrated laboratory sample. Not to mention, your Scent is still developing. Right now, most Alphas will just smell pretty good. Over the next few years, you'll become more sensitive, and correctly cued Alphas will start smelling stronger. Though, with some practice, it is possible to ignore Alpha pheromones, for the most part."

"For… the most part?"

The doctor smiled knowingly, almost irritatingly. "Alphas and Omegas have a magnetic attraction to each other. When you're older, there may come a time when you won't want to ignore an Alpha's Scent."

* * *

_Like hell I won't want to ignore it._

Kotetsu had every intention of not telling his mother about his Scenting, but the doctor almost gleefully announced the news when she came to the exam room to pick him up. Anju accepted it all pretty easily, nodding at the doctor, and later, shaking her head.

"You could try to be a little less special, Kotetsu," his mother joked. He knew she wasn't really mad—if she was, she would be tugging his ear rather than holding his hand—but it didn't really help him feel any better.

He didn't sleep at all the night of his diagnosis, unable to comprehend what he knew and what he felt. He liked girls. He thought they were pretty. They had pretty hair. And through his short life, he'd already experienced a few super-secret crushes, each one rarely lasting longer than a week, but they were all on _girls_. But he couldn't forget the smell in the doctor's office, joy and comfort and bliss in a bottle, and in his future, a certain set of men would smell like that: really, really good. But all of those good-smelling men would be Alphas, the ones who were meant to dominate, meant to push him around. The bits and pieces of Scented relationships he could see in the media did not paint the kind of picture Kotetsu wanted to be part of: a strong, composed Alpha caring for and protecting a sweet, docile Omega. Kotetsu could protect himself, and others, just fine!

The fear grew and festered, as Kotetsu tried to find a way out. Was there a way to resist becoming Scented? Could he change his Scenting into an Alpha? Could he disguise his Scent, so no one would be able to tell he was an Omega? His mother put an end to his home-remedy experiments when Kotetsu tried to go without bathing for a week in the hopes that he'd smell so bad no Alpha would ever want him. Anju lectured him very sternly that his Scenting would not be the end of the world: he gained NEXT powers and survived. He can be Scented and still survive.

But that was the problem. As a NEXT, Kotetsu could become a hero. But how was he supposed to be a hero if he was a pushover Omega?

For a few years, the issue disappeared. Oriental Town wasn't large enough to have much of a Scented population, and Kotetsu couldn't even tell who was and wasn't Scented because he could only smell one type of pheromones, the ones correctly cued for him. He didn't meet his first gay Alpha until he started high school. The boy was a senior, captain of the basketball club. Kotetsu's body tingled lightly as he approached in the hallway, and Kotetsu quickly singled him out from the other students by smell alone. Well, good to know, he could just walk on the other side of the hallway, pass him by…

The basketball Alpha had other plans. He stuck out his leg and tripped Kotetsu, and then under the pretense of 'helping him up,' practically pinned him against the wall, spouting bad pickup lines about Kotetsu's smell and inviting the underclassman to sniff his neck. The drop-dead amazing Scent surrounded him, not as strong as in the doctor's office, but powerful enough to make his knees wobble. But that beautiful smell just didn't match the boy's leering eyes, slack jaw, and terrible lines.

Here and now, he had to decide. Did Kotetsu want to be someone who used his powers to protect others, or someone who others held power over? Was he going to stand up, or let this Alpha push him down?

_Hero or Omega?_

He feared it might not be enough. His legs barely felt like they could support his own weight, but Kotetsu mustered up all his strength and kneed the upperclassman right in the balls. The boy crumpled, and Kotetsu gasped a breath of fresh air to clear his head, then immediately dashed off to class, sliding in his seat a few seconds before the bell rang.

By lunch, word of Kotetsu's legendary defiance had spread through the entire school. No one understood why Kotetsu would turn down the Alpha. Everyone assumed Alphas and Omegas stuck like glue any time they came into contact. Kotetsu almost retched at the idea of being stuck like glue to the basketball captain, and he said so to anyone that asked: "I don't want to spend a single second with an idiot like him."

And by the time the school day ended, word of Kotetsu's complete rejection reached the Alpha, who was _not_ happy. He made another attempt to corner Kotetsu after school, but some teachers broke them up before anything actually happened. The both of them had separate appointments with the principal where they got the same lecture: _cut it out, now_. No suspicious interaction would be tolerated on school premises, under pain of detention, suspension, or worse.

Kotetsu had no problem 'cutting it out.' He didn't even want the Alpha in the first place, and only saw him in the hallways. The Alpha was much less receptive to the ban, but did his best to work within the boundaries. He started sending some of his friends from the team to rough Kotetsu up, trying to prove this school was 'dangerous' and Kotetsu needed the Alpha for 'protection.' Kotetsu really honed his fighting skills during this time, and he quickly got fed up with the Alpha's false heroics. If he was really so strong, then why wasn't he using that strength to help the people who needed it for real?

The Alpha graduated that year, but his impact lasted. Kotetsu saw first-hand how arrogant and rude gay Alphas were to gay Omegas, and if he didn't think it before, he knew now that all the bullshit about Alphas protecting Omegas was just that: bullshit. Kotetsu could take care of himself, and others, without breaking a sweat. He'd never roll over and submit for someone else's enjoyment.

Freed from the harassment of an Alpha, Kotetsu had another few years to be himself. 'Himself' still included being a fighter, a bit of a slacker, and a NEXT, all of which earned him various degrees of scorn from everybody else, but it all worked out for the best, as far as Kotetsu could tell. After all, he met Tomoe.

It wasn't like he didn't know who she was. They had class together all year. And she was smart, witty, a hero TV fan, _beautiful_, responsible, brave… He had been thinking of her for a while, but it never quite sunk in that she might have been thinking of him in return. Throughout Kotetsu's first attempts to impress her (their first dates, as he would call them later) he kept wondering, _What does she expect from an Omega like me?_ Kotetsu's body was wired to be with someone completely the opposite of Tomoe, a stupid pig of an Alpha, but his head and heart loved Tomoe more than any of that. Could he make her understand?

Would she ever understand?

* * *

Tomoe and Kotetsu flirted and dated through high school, and the subject of Scenting only came up after their graduation. It started with a simple enough question: "What do Alphas actually smell like?"

Kotetsu thought about it, unsure of how to respond. "Well, like Alphas," he said at last.

"But what does that _mean_?" Tomoe pressed. "Our old biology did an incredibly poor job of explaining this. It gave us all the science but never actually described what Alphas and Omegas smell like."

He chewed his lower lip a bit. He knew he couldn't explain this much better than a textbook could. "They smell like a bunch of things that aren't supposed to have smells," he decided. "They're just… Alphas. There's nothing else like it."

"It must be enjoyable, being next to an Alpha."

"No way. It sucks."

"But they smell good, don't they?"

"I guess…"

"This could just be my perspective as a Beta, but I think it would be very exciting to be Scented."

"Trust me, you're lucky you don't have to deal with this."

"Why?"

"Scenting makes more trouble than it's worth. I wish I could be a Beta and just not deal with this."

Science generally called normal, non-pheromonal people unScented, but pop culture adopted the term 'Beta' as a way to include normal people in the Scented game: Alphas and Omegas, and then the Betas, stuck in between. The label 'boring Beta' quickly emerged, highlighting differences between their relationships. Supposedly, Alphas and Omegas found Betas boring because they didn't have an 'exciting' smell, but Kotetsu thought Tomoe was the most interesting person in the world.

"Please, tell me, Kotetsu," Tomoe asked in a very gentle tone. "Why do you wish you weren't an Omega?"

"Alphas are just… assholes. There's no way to describe it. They've all been told that they're supposed to be dominant, but it just makes them jerks. I'll never be with someone just because he smells nice, and since none of these nice-smelling people are actually nice… It's just annoying."

"It's probably annoying to them, too. They wouldn't try so hard if they didn't want you."

Kotetsu shook his head. "They want me, so they treat me like dirt? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, suppose one of them didn't treat you badly. If someone, someone you liked, if they smelled like an Alpha… For instance, hypothetically, if _I _smelled like an Alpha, what would you think of that?"

Kotetsu sighed again, rather relieved that the conversation had gone in this direction. "Don't bother with Scent application stuff. Believe me, I did some research on it. All the cheap stuff is fake and all the expensive stuff is… well, expensive. And totally unnecessary," He scooted a little closer to Tomoe and kissed her cheek. "I love you. That's all I need."

His answer reassured her, at least a little. Tomoe's intentions were in the right place, he felt it. She just wanted to match Kotetsu's Scenting, and relieve the worry for the both of them. But Kotetsu almost felt like he _couldn't_ enjoy Alpha pheromones. Being too close to a correctly cued Alpha messed with his whole body. He felt sluggish around them, lazy and dull and dumb, and he had no control over it. He had no idea what would actually happen if he ended up in a romantic situation with someone who smelled of Alpha pheromones. He didn't trust what his body would do with that chemical in the air. He didn't trust that he could actually stay himself.

His 'self' was a hero, not an Omega. He wouldn't let Scenting threaten his dream.


	2. A City of Alphas

When Kotetsu made it to Sternbild, he found many, _many_ more Alphas living there. As a mega-metropolis, statistically, there would be more Scented people born there than anywhere else, but birth rate didn't account for all of it. Scented people from small towns often voyaged to the City to take advantage of this larger mating pool, which inflated the Scented population even higher. All those Scented people living together invented their own subculture, with entire bars, clubs, and even shops dedicated to letting them mix and mingle, claim and be claimed.

Kotetsu avoided those Scented centers like no tomorrow, but gay Alphas didn't only exist in specialized social haunts. They went _everywhere_ that normal people went: grocery stores. The dry cleaner. The bank. Restaurants. They worked for TopMag. The absolute worst was whenever Kotetsu passed an Alpha walking on the streets. He'd catch the Scent, then immediately close his mouth and hold his breath, swallowing down the Scent in his nose before it bothered him too much. Meanwhile, every time an Alpha passed, Kotetsu _felt_ him stare, and in many instances do a double-take. And Kotetsu wanted to punch them for checking him out like that.

In fact, in Sternbild, Kotetsu found two different kinds of Alphas. One of them was the normal kind, strong-smelling and pushy, willing to approach Kotetsu for any reason, sometimes with more plausible conversation starters ("So, you work in the TopMag building?") to the frankly ridiculous ("So… these carrots look good.") They'd use these openers to follow a very predictable script: approach Kotetsu, call him single, ask him out. Kotetsu practically got bored with turning them down.

And then there was the second type of Alpha. They smelled normal, for the most part, but with a hint of an after-Scent that reminded Kotetsu of the way milk smells right before it goes bad. His brain read that signal surprisingly clearly, and each time Kotetsu was near one of these Alphas, he could feel the Scent telling him, _This one is not for you._ This second category of Alphas still checked Kotetsu out and did most everything normal Alphas did, but they never approached Kotetsu for conversation. They just hung in the background, leering.

Kotetsu described the off-smelling leer-ers to Tomoe once, on the couch after dinner, and she put the pieces together pretty well.

"Those have to be the claimed Alphas," Tomoe explained. "Since they've already chosen an Omega to mate with, they aren't going to smell the same as single Alphas. It's a sign that they aren't available—a biological wedding ring."

"Good for them," Kotetsu scratched at his beard. Why anyone in his right mind would choose to marry an Alpha, he couldn't say.

"Do the paired ones give you any trouble?"

"No, but _they'd _probably be in a lot of trouble if their Omegas saw the way they looked at me…"

"My poor Tiger," Tomoe slid a little closer and wrapped her arms around Kotetsu's middle. "I hadn't been thinking about Scenting in the city. This isn't fair to you at all."

"I wasn't thinking about it, either," Kotetsu shifted an arm and held Tomoe back. "Still, none of it's so bad that I want to go back."

"Alphas won't stop you from being a hero, will they?"

"Never."

"And hey," Tomoe looked up and grinned. "Next time you have an Alpha on your case, give them my number. I'll scare them off."

Kotetsu smiled a little bit. "Thanks."

He appreciated the offer, he really did. But Kotetsu had already tried to dissuade the single Alphas, the ones who hit on him, with his relationship status. He got faster and faster at giving the response, "Sorry, I have a girlfriend" any time an Alpha approached. He updated that statement to "Sorry, I have a fiancée" and "Sorry, I'm married" in due time.

But he kept getting the same counter-point. "Well, so long as it's not another Alpha, it's okay."

The first time he heard that, Kotetsu couldn't believe his ears. He just stared blankly as one Alpha—a man with a Scent vaguely like a fruit bowl—explained his point of view.

"It's fine if you're in love with someone else. I don't mind," he said. "But you're ignoring your own body. No one can replace what an Alpha does for an Omega."

The Alphas all brought their own reasons. They tried to tempt him with the stereotypes of being paired: having an Alpha guardian, living worry-free, good sex. They claimed that Tomoe wouldn't mind if an Alpha claimed Kotetsu, because she "knew what she was getting into." There were a few who, when Kotetsu told them he was married, responded, "So am I." They told him he needed to obey his biology. Obey his Scenting. _Submit_.

When the rhetoric started getting that intense, Kotetsu couldn't stand it any more. With a few swift moves, Kotetsu would grab the Alpha and bend him into a headlock, and with the jerk trapped and forced to listen, Kotetsu would tell him something _very_ important.

"I've never had an Alpha in my life, and I don't need one now. _Back off_."

The headlock technique proved astoundingly effective. Some ran away out of fear for their own lives, and Kotetsu had no problem with that. Others just lost interest once Kotetsu proved he had no intention of being submissive—a dominant Omega grated against every neuron in their biology-locked brains, and practically negated their attraction. A few got upset, threatening that Kotestu would never get a mate with an attitude like his. And Kotetsu was absolutely okay with that.

He rarely had to headlock a man more than once. And even if repeat offenders didn't get the message, Kotetsu had no qualms about driving his point as deep into their thick skulls as it could go. He had no interest in any Alpha. He never had, and he never would.

* * *

When Kotetsu made it to the hero scene, Wild Tiger enjoyed a vacation from the usual harassment. Not many people spent a lot of time sniffing him while he was fighting crime, and the masses of Sternbild's population stayed on the other side of a smell-proof screen. As an unexpected bonus, sometimes fans would theorize about Kotetsu's potential Scenting, and using his strong Hundred Power and aggressive property damage as evidence, most people assumed that Wild Tiger was an Alpha. Rumors circulated every so often with untraceable friend-of-a-friend sources that "verified" Wild Tiger was an Alpha, but since the whispers contradicted each other over whether he was cued for males or females, the general population agreed he was probably just a Beta, not about to dominate or submit to anyone.

Then, there was The Story. And Kotetsu's Wild Tiger shelter crumbled into dust.

Kotetsu had an interview for Hero Monthly with an oily-haired reporter who turned out to be a gay Alpha. Though the odor of Alphas was always heavenly, this reporter smelled rather average when compared to others Kotetsu had met before. His Scent seemed kind of teal-colored, and even sitting very close to the man, the pheromones never achieved overpowering levels. The Alpha reporter definitely checked out Kotetsu, looking him over from head to toe, but drew no attention to Kotetsu's Scent. Kotetsu supposed that Alphas could be professional, too, and leave Scenting aside for the sake of their job.

The interview itself was very routine: Wild Facts about Wild Tiger. Ben had already shown Kotetsu all the questions beforehand, so he breezed through the answers even with a bit of cottony Alpha fog in his head. The story ran in Hero Monthly just as expected, but the story that _didn't_ appear in Hero Monthly—the one that the reporter sold to a celebrity gossip magazine for God knew how much money—caused a much bigger stir.

_Wild Tiger: A Wild Omega with male cuing._

The article was short. There wasn't much the reporter could do to drag out his story. He introduced himself as a gay Alpha, gave a bit of personal history, and then recounted his experience at the interview, walking into the room and coming face-to-face with Wild Tiger's Scent. Which he then described in more detail than Kotetsu ever wanted to hear.

"_Just sitting in the same room with him is a paradise, a dream. He's literally hypnotic, and it took all of my professional willpower to stay on task. I've never met an Omega with a Scent equal to his, and I can only describe it as miraculous that he—as of the publication of this article—is completely unclaimed. There exists somewhere one very lucky male Alpha, possibly even unknown to Tiger, who will claim him. That Alpha will have both the privilege of enjoying his unique and luscious Scent and the pride of conquering a high-powered hero._"

Kotetsu didn't want to leave the house after The Story ran, but he still had to go into TopMag. Ben consoled him as best he could; they couldn't get the secret back under wraps, and in hindsight they should have had a press conference of their own earlier, but they _can_ sue. Not only did the reporter break the trust of his contract with TopMag, but they had a very strong case against him, since they could claim he compromised a hero identity in addition to his contract breach.

"We can't undo the damage," Ben summarized. "But we can still take a stand."

* * *

"_Wild Tiger, how do you respond to allegations that you are an Omega?"_

"_Ah, they're… they're true. I, Wild Tiger, am an Omega cued for males. This does not in any way affect my ability to protect the peace of Sternbild. I will not allow my Scenting to prevent me from protecting this city. An Omega is viewed as a naturally submissive person, but I reject that. Being an Omega does not make me weak, and I don't need an Alpha to be complete. Omegas are not inferior at any job simply by being an Omega. I will continue, as I always have, to defend Sternbild against any and all danger."_

"_Does this mean you will never mate?"_

"_Basically, yeah. I've never had an Alpha in my life, and I definitely don't need one. Stop asking about it."_

* * *

That bold statement turned out to work against Kotetsu. Well, the part that Ben and the publicity team had scripted was perfect, eloquent, inspiring even. But Kotetsu's ad-libbed statement, vowing that he didn't need an Alpha, caused a stir almost as bad as The Story that outed him.

The sponsors _loved _it. The Unattainable Omega slant captivated public interest, and they could net a huge profit if they played their cards right. But, the right cards meant throwing Kotetsu to the Alphas like a steak to a pack of wolves. No one would stay interested in an Omega who foreswore Alphas and then never had any contact with them (forget that the public had no view into Kotetsu's ordinary life as it crossed paths with the ordinary lives of Alphas). They needed to test Kotetsu's resolve, expose him repeatedly to Alphas and see if _this time_, he'd fall.

They wanted to shoot a _dating show_.

"Mr. Ben, I can't do it!" Kotetsu protested. "My wife is pregnant! I—I _have_ a wife! I can't be on a dating show if I'm not single!"

"I know you don't like it, but if you want to keep causing property damage the way you do, we need the sponsors to like you. They're the reason you're able to be a hero."

Kotetsu ran a hand through his hair and chewed his tongue. _I just had to open my big mouth…_

"Besides, I know they're playing up an angle, but this is a good chance for you to walk the talk. We can't, and won't, force you to let the show winner claim you. Having an Omega that resists unsatisfactory partners as a public celebrity sets a great example, if anyone else is struggling with what you're facing."

Kotetsu chewed his tongue a little harder.

"I won't green-light anything until you've talked it over with Tomoe, okay? But the studio needs an answer, yes or no, by the end of the week."

He had no idea how to even bring up the subject. When he arrived home, they kissed hello and settled in for the evening, but Kotetsu couldn't relax. He channeled his nerves into attention toward Tomoe, offering massages for her shoulders and feet, checking that she had a full glass of mango-limeade (an inexplicable craving of her pregnancy) fluffing pillows for her, and trying to keep the conversation focused on Tomoe and her day.

But Tomoe, as usual, proved a little too smart for that. "You're acting strange," she told him.

"It's strange when I take care of my wife?" Kotetsu asked, and he forced a chuckle. "I need to work harder at being a good husband, if you think that."

"It's not weird that you're taking care of me. It's weird that you won't look me in the eye."

Oh. Oops. Kotetsu needed to work on getting rid of that tell.

"What's wrong?"

"Um… It's…"

"Don't make me play twenty questions. What's wrong? What happened?"

"Something Mr. Ben told me at work," Kotetsu began. "The sponsors… really like that I'm an Omega."

"Really?"

"Well, they like that I'm an Omega and I said the stuff that I said," Kotetsu continued, words falling out of his mouth in a rush. "They think it's exciting that I don't want to mate even though Alphas like me so they think it's just a matter of time and if I meet enough Alphas then I'm gonna be okay with at least one of them and they want to sponsor that and show it to the TV audience—they want to make a dating show!"

The confession ended the flood. Silence stood in the Kaburagi living room.

"They… want me to be on a dating show," he repeated. "If I do it, Mr. Ben says I'll get more sponsors, which will help with all the damage fines… And it could send a good message if I don't pick a winner…"

Tomoe still didn't say anything. Kotetsu stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry to put you through all this. You deserve better than a pathetic, gay Omega."

"Hey now," Tomoe stood up from her pillow-nest and approached Kotetsu. She smoothed his hair aside and kissed his forehead.

"Kotetsu T. Kaburagi," she said. "You are a kind, strong, loving, funny, and handsome man. You are _not_ pathetic. And never for a single second do I regret marrying you. Do you understand?"

He nodded, a bit sheepish.

"And none of this situation is your fault. You didn't choose to be an Omega, and you didn't choose your cuing. Maybe a comment or two made people think in a certain direction, but you're brave and strong for speaking your mind. I'm proud of you."

"Okay," Kotetsu agreed. Even if he still blamed himself, knowing Tomoe didn't blame him eased his mind a little.

"You said it yourself—the dating show would help bring in sponsors, and sponsors let you continue being a hero. That's the most important thing. For everything else… I trust you."

Kotetsu blinked. "Eh?"

"You said that you have the option to not pick a winner, right?"

"I—I think so. At least, Mr. Ben said they can't force me to hook up with him. But they might just decide to do it all over again, make another contest!"

"I trust you to choose me," Tomoe smiled, and she kissed him again, this time on the lips. "Okay? I believe in you."

Kotetsu hugged her around the middle, and kissed her growing belly for good measure. "Thank you, Tomoe."

In the moment, part of him wished Tomoe had put her foot down and refused to allow the dating show. But a larger part felt relieved, calmed, and flooded with love that Tomoe understood and accepted him for who he was, Omega and all.


	3. The Tiger Tamer Challenge

They found ten top-of-the-line Alphas for their stupid dating show: a business executive, a singer, a painter, a software designer, a professional soccer player, some "fetish-y" public servants—a firefighter, a police officer, and a nurse—and two models for good measure. Ben very carefully negotiated the rules of the show to provide minimal contact between the contestants and Kotetsu. The dating show actually ended up looking more like a game show, unlike other dating shows, which showcased actual outings between the contestants and prize. On the "Tiger Tamer Challenge," the contestants faced weekly challenges, rankings, and eliminations, and only the winner would meet Kotetsu face-to-face.

In preparation for the first episode, Kotetsu would be presented with ten anonymous samples of the Alpha's Scents, to be ranked in relation to each other and create a starting seed of likely winners. The studio thought this was a cute, ironic twist—that viewers would fret over whether Kotetsu would discover who had his favorite Scent based on the Alpha's performance—but Ben explained behind their backs that he hoped to turn that tension on its head. This setup could start poking holes in the idea that the strongest-Scented Alphas were always the most ideal mates.

From there, the challenges would start, testing the Alphas in various skills that were deemed essential to their ability to 'protect' and 'provide' for Kotetsu the way a good Alpha should. They'd test physical fitness, logical prowess, ability to cook, ability to 'romance' (an artsy challenge, or something) and other meaningless displays of talent. Kotetsu and a panel of judges (seriously, _judges_) would provide commentary, and then score the Alphas. The show's director encouraged Kotetsu to stay neutral—criticize and praise the contestants honestly, don't show too much favoritism—but otherwise he could say whatever he wanted. Then, the lowest-scoring Alpha from each round went home, until at the end of ten weeks, only one Alpha remained.

And the prize for that Alpha was a date with Kotetsu.

The winner would have an evening to try and sweep Kotetsu off his feet, all while video cameras followed him and prepared to document Kotetsu's submission. That was the part Kotetsu dreaded. All the rest of it, he could grit his teeth and stumble through, but it would take all his willpower to make it through the date without breaking anything. Or any_one_.

Well, of course he wouldn't actually break any_one_. He was still a hero. But these Alphas, trying to treat him like something less than a hero, severely tested that resolve.

When filming started, they dressed Kotetsu in a suit designed to emphasize (stereo)typical Omega traits, like a small waist and thin limbs. It shocked Kotetsu to realize that he actually possessed an 'Omega waist,' and that his favorite waistcoats only emphasized that charm point to potential Alphas. As for his identity, the studio presented Kotetsu with a teensy domino mask, much smaller than his usual cowl. It technically hid his identity, but showed off much more of his face, particularly the cheeks—possibly so the cameras could catch every single blush. With such a flimsy defense on his face, he almost wondered why the studio bothered pretending his identity was still hidden, but he just crossed his fingers behind his back that it did enough to conceal him, and no one would know it was Kotetsu T. Kaburagi up there on TV.

They filmed as the show's MC laid out the rules and introduced 'Wild Tiger,' asking him a few questions about his Omega background and his attitudes toward mating.

"Your press conference made it sound like you would never consider having an Alpha in your life. But that's a very _extreme_ position, don't you think?"

"Extreme or not, it's what I think," Kotetsu squared his shoulders, so the cameras couldn't make him look weak.

"What if you met an Alpha that you really, _really_ liked? One who was perfect for you?"

"That doesn't matter. I don't see myself—in that situation."

"What would your ideal Alpha be like?"

"Someone who wants me for more than just my Scent. Someone who knows me. He'd treat me as a friend first, a lover next, and an Omega last. And he'd have to back down when I tell him to. None of this 'dominance' talk."

"That's a tall order for an Alpha," the MC commented.

"I won't accept less. If an Alpha like that doesn't exist, then I just won't mate. Even if that Alpha _does_ exist, I probably won't mate."

The MC's smile faltered a little. Kotetsu had stayed mostly on script, but went a little overboard with his denials. "Well, Tiger… There will be plenty of time to see exactly what these fine Alphas are, um, _capable_ of over the course of the show! How about we start with the Scents?"

The samples looked like the ones from the infamous doctor's office: glass jars with stoppers and little cotton scraps inside. The concentration wasn't as strong, either, but each one had an intensity that still startled Kotetsu. He wafted flask after flask, vision blurring as he breathed that warm, electric odor. He felt really stupid, standing around and smelling things as cameras filmed him, but they'd probably edit this segment together with biographies of the Alphas, and lay commercials over the most boring parts. Working on a non-live program had its perks.

Gradually, Kotetsu organized the Scents into a rough order of preference. They all smelled similar—like Alphas—but as he focused, he detected nuances between the samples. One smelled darker; that other one, softer; and that one at the end reminded him of silver…

After a long time, Kotetsu identified the five he was pretty certain he liked best and put them in order, but after so long inhaling Alpha pheromones, Kotetsu felt about to collapse. He had no more tough-guy act left for the cameras, so rather than make a fool of himself, he shoved the remaining flasks in a random order from sixth to tenth so filming could end. Once dismissed, Kotetsu stumbled away, wishing for a stiff drink to toss into his throat, something strong enough to eradicate his sense of smell completely, at least for a few hours.

Three days later, the episode aired during prime time. Kotetsu lay up in the bedroom with a pillow over his face while Tomoe watched the pilot downstairs. The studio forbid Kotetsu from watching the program while it aired to prevent favoritism—as if he even wanted to see that stupid show—but Tomoe wanted to watch, for some reason.

"Sometimes, a good scare is fun," she explained, but Kotetsu found that reason quite lacking. He knew Tomoe would never doubt his commitment to her over a program like this, but he still didn't like the idea of his wife watching him at his worst.

After the program ended, Tomoe opened the bedroom door, clicked it shut behind her, and lay down beside Kotetsu. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.

"I can tell you don't want to be there," Tomoe said. "The show plays it up like you're nervous, but you really hate it."

"Of course I hate it," Kotetsu mumbled into the cloth and feathers still covering his face. "This isn't what being a hero is about."

Tomoe pulled the pillow off his face and kissed his cheek. "I'm still proud of you, Wild Tiger."

Kotetsu adjusted his arm to cuddle Tomoe back, and he breathed deeply. Tomoe smelled like lavender soap and fresh cotton and a light dash of perfume. Nothing tried to override Kotetsu's brain and turn him into something he wasn't. She let him be himself. That was all Tomoe wanted from him: his self.

* * *

Ten weeks later, the soccer player won the whole thing. Kotetsu ranked his Scent eighth, one of the flasks he threw down low because he felt too hazy from all the previous Scents. And now, they were going on a date. A televised date.

_Kill me now_.

He didn't want to do it. He wanted to pick where they went, so he could pick somewhere gross or boring and drive the Alpha off. He wanted to scrub his neck so hard that he'd never smell like an Omega again. He wanted to run home and never look back.

But he couldn't. No one would let him. He did the next best thing and hid from the studio crew, cell phone jammed against his ear as he talked with Tomoe, just listening to her voice as she recounted her Pregnant Lady Adventures: the errands she ran, her feelings on the weather, anything she read or heard, if her body hurt, if the baby kicked. As she spoke, Kotetsu reinforced his survival mantra, _I'm married. I love Tomoe. I love my family. _He_ won't take that away from me_. This would be a test of endurance, resistance, and strength. A few eagle-eyed technicians would find him, but never the same one twice. Kotetsu played off the hour-long talk as "just a quick call home." Everyone thought he was nervous about meeting the Alpha who won the Challenge. Kotetsu didn't mention the true reason: he feared losing control of himself.

Even with his heart trampling the rest of his internal organs, the Alpha behaved… _respectfully_. When they first met, he offered Kotetsu a handshake rather than going for a hug, a gesture that would have put their faces very close to each other's necks, the center of their pheromones. Either the Alpha thought he didn't need the advantage of overwhelming Kotetsu with Scent, or he really was a different kind of Alpha. No matter the reason, Kotetsu gratefully took the few extra minutes of clarity, and it gave the evening a hopeful start.

The Alpha's date-plan was actually just to play soccer in a local park. They found a field with some goalposts and kicked a ball around, a very physical, friendly activity. Kotetsu had no real love (or talent) for the sport, but he had high strength and agility as a hero, and the exercise helped counteract the sleepy-drunk feeling of Alpha pheromones. The Alpha tutored Kotetsu in proper kicking techniques, then they practiced passing the ball around, and they even staged a mock shoot-out with one as the goalie and one as the striker. Kotetsu learned how to juggle the ball on his knees for a few bounces, too.

After an hour or so of soccer, the Alpha asked if Kotetsu wanted to go for a walk around the rest of the park, to see the trees and flowers and whatnot. Walking side-by-side would close the distance between their pheromones, but Kotetsu had no reason to reject the invitation. So, they started along one of the park's paths, a rather neutral and comfortable stroll. They made small talk, get-to-know-you questions appropriate for a first date, and Kotetsu only had to decline answers and protect his identity a few times. On the whole, the tone stayed friendly, and even the closer proximity didn't drag Kotetsu down.

_Maybe this won't be so bad_. Kotetsu thought. For all intents and purposes, this felt way more like hanging out with Antonio than being pursued by an Alpha. The studio could do something pretty with this, too: Wild Tiger, calm in the presence of an Alpha, leaving each other on good terms. The audience would draw their own conclusions about whether the Alpha _tamed_ Kotetsu off-camera, the sponsors could tease the ambiguity, the Alpha wouldn't feel publicly humiliated when Kotetsu turned him down… That'd be the best solution for everyone involved.

Just as evening started to fall, the Alpha paused their walk at a secluded gazebo. The camera crew filed around for the best possible view of whatever might occur.

"Did you have fun today?" the Alpha asked as they watched the sunset.

The way he phrased the question rang all the alarm bells in Kotetsu's head, but to answer truthfully… "Yeah. It's been fun."

"I'm glad." The Alpha took two steps closer. His Scent, hanging vaguely in the background, now dominated the space, heavy and intoxicating. Already Kotetsu's knees started to tremble, and he leaned more heavily on the gazebo's railing.

"Making a move on the first date?" Kotetsu sounded a lot more stable than he felt. "Kind of rude, don't you think?"

"I can't let this chance pass me by. You smell even better than they said."

"Well, I put you eighth of ten, what does that tell you about my interest… in… uh…"

His train of thought wavered. The Alpha was nearly on top of him, his dreamy-woozy Scent filling the air. No matter how adamantly Kotetsu rejected Alphas, they still smelled _fantastic._

"I'm warning you. Back down," Kotetsu managed to gasp.

"Come on, can you blame me for being curious about you?" The Alpha trailed one hand up Kotetsu's arm, reaching around his neck and gently tilting his head back. Kotetsu let it happen, conserving his strength and giving the Alpha a little more time to back off, but this athlete was not helping his case.

"Last chance," Kotetsu added, now struggling for mostly-clean breaths.

The Alpha just laughed, leaning in closer and inhaling deeply. He hummed in Kotetsu's ear, "You've found your Alpha now, Tiger. It's me. Understood?"

_That's it._ The action was so familiar to him he barely had to think about it. He grabbed the Alpha by the hair, pulled him off his neck, and twisted him into a headlock. The Alpha struggled, and Kotetsu's sluggish muscles couldn't hold him for long, so he took it a step forward and knocked the Alpha all the way to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back in Captured Criminal position.

"What the hell?!" the Alpha kicked uselessly.

"You were doing so well. I was starting to think you were actually different," Kotetsu clicked his tongue. "But then you went and treated me like an Omega."

"You _are_ an Omega!" the Alpha grunted from the floor.

"And I'm a hero, too! Do you even care about that?" Kotetsu's grip tightened. "I've said it once, and I'll say it a hundred times! I've never needed an Alpha, and I definitely don't need one now! All this dating show proves is that gay Alphas don't give a shit about their Omegas."

With that last sting, Kotetsu released the Alpha and strode away, glaring into the lens of the main camera before pushing past. He kept walking, not even stopping at the TV trailer to change clothes or remove any recording equipment.

He was going _home_, like he should have three hours ago.

* * *

Kotetsu couldn't remember the last time he had this much _fun_.

He and Tomoe had the final episode of the Tiger Tamer Challenge recorded on cassette and playing on TV, with a shochu in Kotetsu's hand and a mango-limeade in Tomoe's as they laughed at the mess of a finale the studio had struggled to create. They trash-talked the Alpha, booed the editing, and talked through the dialogue, and Kotetsu felt like a teenager again, sticking it to The Man.

The editors had done well sequencing the idyllic soccer scenes. The pink sky, the green field, the relaxed atmosphere; they just added some music and choice narration to paint the perfect evening. That strategy continued during the park-walk, but the cameras captured predatory glances that Kotetsu had missed at the time. Tomoe added unhelpful wolf-whistles any time the studio showed the Alpha's leering face, while Kotetsu grumbled and cursed the world. In the final gazebo confrontation, with the Alpha's hands crawling all over Kotetsu's body, the man himself groaned and buried his face in his hands while Tomoe teased him with sarcastic complements, "You totally have this situation under control! And you're standing your ground so well! Listen to those very effective warnings!"

And in the end, at the dramatic turn-around, both Tomoe and Kotetsu cheered, toasting Wild Tiger's triumph and the strength of their marriage. Not to mention, Kotetsu thought he looked pretty badass knocking that Alpha to the ground, if he did say so himself. The Kaburagis hollered petty insults at the presumptuous Alpha, putting down his face, his attitude, his career, until Kotetsu realized something was amiss.

"Hey, wait, wait, rewind it!" Kotetsu ordered, and Tomoe fiddled with the remote until she sufficiently backed up the tape.

"_—roves that gay Alphas don't give a — about their Omegas._"

Tomoe's jaw dropped. "You swore on TV!"

"I wasn't thinking!"

"You're a family-friendly icon!"

"That wasn't for Hero TV!"

"Your _fans_ are going to see this—the kids who look up to you!"

"Kids wouldn't be interested in this kind of crap!"

"You don't know that!" Tomoe couldn't even scold him anymore, she was laughing too hard. "Think of their impressionable little minds! Think of the poor, traumatized children, scarred forever because big, bad Wild Tiger used a bad word on TV!"

"They didn't even hear the word! The station bleeped it!"

"You're lucky they did!" Tomoe sighed, still giggling, and swished her mango-limeade in its glass. "Ahh, what did you say, anyway?"

"I said 'shit.' They don't give a shit."

"Shit," Tomoe rubbed her belly. "Did you hear that, baby? Your daddy says words like 'shit.'"

"So does your mommy," Kotetsu scooted closer and gave kisses to mother and baby, while the tape played out its final narration.

"_Wild Tiger has rejected the winner of the Tiger Tamer Challenge! Not even the finest Alphas in Sternbild can match this tiger's temper! But, this is just the beginning. Every Alpha will want their shot at this Omega's wild hand! The Omega hero could be claimed at any moment, but on this day, the Crusher for Justice, Wild Tiger, roams free!"_


	4. An Alpha on Ice

Kotetsu saw ripples, but not a revolution. After the Tiger Tamer Challenge, some Omegas felt empowered, and some Alphas reassessed their mating strategies, but Kotetsu's detractors remained strong. The fact remained that many Omegas _wanted_ to end up with an Alpha, and reasonably viewed Kotetsu's defiant behavior as counter-productive to finding a mate. Similarly, lots of Alphas brushed off the idea of Kotetsu's blanket rejection, taking the attitude that Wild Tiger's destined Alpha was out there somewhere, and once that man came along and claimed the hero, that'd be the last they'd hear of this silly resistance.

Open season on Tiger began.

Alpha fans struggled to push to the front of meet-and-greets and signing lines, but Kotetsu had learned long ago to turn _away_ from the delicious musk, not toward it. Correctly cued criminals singled him out, expecting an Omega to crumple in their path, only to learn that Kotetsu could use his Hundred Power to hold his breath for a full five minutes. The sponsors proved the trickiest—Alpha executives muscled themselves into the divisions that dealt with heroes, and tried to attract Kotetsu with both their Scent and sponsorship deals, but Ben had a wonderful way of intervening and explaining that they needed to see TopMag's hero division accountants, leaving Kotetsu in the clear.

TopMag soon enough drafted up a formal statement, a cease and desist saying that Kotetsu should be left alone. No one actually expected it to deter the Alphas, but it spelled out TopMag's protocol regarding Alpha harassers. After thirty seconds of contact, a _very_ wide array of actions became permissible against the Alphas in "defense" of Wild Tiger, including Kotetsu's favorite headlocks. The whole thing basically boiled down to, "If you mess with Wild Tiger and you get mauled, it's not his fault."

And for once, Kotetsu was too happy to care about the Alphas. He had a beautiful baby daughter and a wonderful, amazing wife. He lived his childhood dream every day by going to work. Even if it didn't sum up to a dream _life_, certain individual happinesses definitely counted as more significant than the whole. He lived that brilliant, glittering life for four years.

Then those years ended.

He hid it as best he could. Antonio knew. Ben knew. Tomoe's friends, too. But that was it. None of the other heroes knew, none of the staff at TopMag knew, and only the most observant neighbors even realized there had been a change in the Kaburagi household.

Kotetsu never realized how good he was at faking his way through smiles until he started doing it every day. Most mornings he didn't even want to get out of bed, but he had a promise to keep, so he got up anyway. Once up and moving, convincing everyone he was okay and that things were still fine became so much easier, but for months, he didn't feel a single smile, even if he pinned his face into the proper configuration.

The only noticeable change came with Kotetsu's reaction to Alphas. The protocol announcement gave them thirty seconds, but the instant Kotetsu caught their Scent, saw the gleam in their eyes, the curve in their mouth, thirty seconds be damned, he _took them down._ He didn't care who they were, what they had to say, why they were there. He just wanted to be left alone.

* * *

That mindset continued for a few more years. Some mornings, the will to get out of bed came more easily than others, and Kotetsu ever so slowly returned to a normal schedule. The shock of Tomoe's passing gradually eased, too, until it felt less like a pit in his heart and more like a shadow at his back. He still loved Tomoe, and his memories of her would always be with him, but she was gone. He should live to make this world more like something she wanted, a safe city protected by brave heroes.

He worked toward that goal, one day at a time. Treating each broadcast like a fresh chance to keep Tomoe's promise helped him find those last buried sparks of energy that all his other responsibilities—sponsors to paperwork to bills to keeping up with Kaede—threatened to extinguish. If he failed, he could take that episode and set it aside, and use the next episode as a chance to make things right. Each and every night, Kotetsu let out his best Wild Roar… which some nights went better than others.

On a scale of one to ten, Kotetsu had to rank the finale of the 197-77 Hero TV season as 'Disaster.' Everyone scored last-minute points _except_ him, (and Oirgami, who played for photobombs instead of points anyway) he broke a very expensive monorail, he nearly got hit with a rocket, he _actually _got hit with a billboard, Blue Rose stole the spotlight, and like a pathetic cherry on top of a misery sundae, he ran out of Hundred Power while two hundred feet in the air and needed a mystery man in armor to bail him out.

For some reason, even with the excitement finished, Kotetsu and the surprise hero stood together on Blue Rose's gradually melting iceberg. The peppy beat of "Go NEXT" echoed from a distant sound stage. Kotetsu glanced at his companion. An armor suit like that had to come from a big company, but without any logos, he couldn't guess who this hero was working for.

"Oi," Kotetsu broke the silence. "What's your affiliation?"

"Affiliation?" the man echoed, apparently confused. It should be a knee-jerk, automatic response.

"You're a free agent, and you still decided to stick your neck into this?" Kotetsu frowned. "What's the big deal?"

"What does it matter?" the man waved a hand dismissively and started walking off. "We made an arrest."

_What does it matter?_ Kotetsu scowled at the back of the suit's helmet. While making arrests was important, where the hell was this kid when people's lives were in danger? He literally showed up just to steal the glory! Kotetsu had that criminal in his grasp way before he appeared—all he did was pull a Dragon Kid on Kotetsu's arrest! He didn't have a company to work for, he didn't care a bit about the bystanders, what was he doing pretending to be a hero?

Kotetsu made to catch up with him, but the slick ice under his boots made him skid instead, and the chilly bay breeze did nothing to improve his body temperature. _That stupid armor with its stupid boots and stupid treads… It's probably heated in there, too…_ Luckily for Kotetsu, the young man stopped short after only a few steps, giving Kotetsu time to finds his skate-feet and slide in front of him.

"Anyway, a hero shouldn't remove his mask in front of other people," Kotetsu continued, building up to a full-fledged lecture. If this kid is trying to be a hero, a veteran had to tell him how it was done. "It's unheard of! Your identity is the most important—"

That bay breeze gusted again, and Kotetsu's speech about heroics died away. The Scent of an Alpha filled the air, unlike anything Kotetsu had ever encountered before. It was _powerful_, hot and dizzying and addictive on a completely different magnitude than anything else he'd ever smelled before. But most shockingly of all, Kotetsu felt like the Scent was calling out to him directly with dozens of other smells: the pine trees from home, grilling meat, a forgotten perfume, baking, the steam from an iron, hot tea by a hotter fireplace, the cool salve he rubbed on muscle strains, maple syrup, cherry hard candies, orange blossoms, on and on, each one with some sort of resonance in Kotetsu's heart.

_Yes… You…_ Kotetsu didn't think—he just knew. _You're…_

The feeling intensified as the young man drew closer. Kotetsu stood perfectly still, taking deep breaths of the man's lovely Scent. The longer he smelled it, the more subtleties he could find, each one more wonderful than the last. His knees shook and finally gave out, but just as he started to fall, and armored hand caught him and held him above his unsteady feet. The other hand joined it, embracing Kotetsu as the man lowered his face to Kotetsu's neck, in turn breathing deeply. The young man sighed, and the warmth of his breath clashed with the chill of the air and armor. It made Kotetsu wish he was warmer, and that they were warmer together, and maybe not wearing their costumes… maybe not wearing anything…

The young man lifted his face and stared into Kotetsu's eyes. He could count each long eyelash framing those green eyes, and he could see that raw, predatory need as the man leaned—closer—and—

Then Kotetsu remembered: this was an Alpha. Moving to claim him. After humiliating him on live TV. He couldn't just lie back and let this happen. Not with someone like this!

_Hero or Omega! Choose, Kotetsu!_

Kotetsu gritted his teeth, willed his arms to move, braced them against the armor's shoulders and pushed as hard as he could. The other man released him, and before Kotetsu lost any momentum, he reached out, wrapped one arm around the man's neck, and pulled him down into the customary headlock. Even with the Alpha secure, Kotetsu's head spun with vertigo and his muscles screamed as they tried to sort out conflicting messages: should they be slowing down, relaxing in the Scent, or should they speed up and fight? Obviously Kotetsu wanted them to _speed up, up, up, and get my Hundred power back, because I might just need it…_

The breeze mixed the air—one minute safe, the next not—and it took Kotetsu a few tries to take a clean breath. Once he trusted his mouth to speak, he growled the customary warning: "I've said it once… 'n' I'll say it a thousand times! I've never had an Alpha in my life… and I don't need one now! Y'hear?"

His only warning was a soft laugh. Then before Kotetsu could do anything else, the armored man reached over his shoulder, grabbed a fistful of Kotetsu's cape, and flung _him_ head-over-heels down onto the icy ground. The air knocked straight out of Kotetsu's lungs as he landed flat on his back, blinking in shock up at the night sky. _Owwwww_…

The blonde stepped back into sight, towering above Kotetsu's very low position.

"Your reputation for resistance precedes you," he said, before he bowed slightly, _mockingly_, and continued, "Well, I am honored to be the one who will change your mind."

"Wha—No!" Kotetsu protested as the other man started to walk away. "You… you're—Hey!" He pulled himself onto his knees, but doing much more was out of the question, pain and residual pheromones weakening him. "…Where are you going?"

"You'll be late to the MVP ceremony if you don't leave soon," the Alpha replied. "It's been a pleasure talking with you, old man."

"You damn brat!" Kotetsu shook a fist at the retreating man. "Don't you walk away from me! Oi, come back here!"

The blonde didn't even glance over his shoulder. Kotetsu lay back on the ice again and stared up at the stars, still swimming slightly from the Alpha Scent and ache of his unwanted flip.

_What the hell was that? What came over me?_ Kotetsu wondered. That kid was an Alpha, yeah, but why was his Scent so strong? It felt even stronger than the sample from the doctor's office decades ago, and Kotetsu had been promised that no Alpha possessed a Scent that powerful. He smelled like everything Kotetsu loved, and that shouldn't be possible, either. Kotetsu had never managed to match elements of an Alpha's Scent to comfort smells before. They were always just Alphas, wonderful things that had no smells, but the combination of Alpha and beloved scents nearly undid him. And what was he _thinking_, letting that kid get so close? He was trying to kiss Kotetsu—claim Kotetsu! And they had just met less than an hour ago! To think he almost let that happen…

With the last tendrils of the blonde Alpha's pheromones cleared from the air, Kotetsu stood, dusted some ice flakes off of his knees, and made his way back toward the city. He was already going to be late, and Ben would want to talk to him about that night's property damage, but he just walked. So long as he made it in time for the MVP announcement, he'd be safe.


	5. Professionally Paired

That night at the MVP ceremony, the Alpha brat joined the official hero lineup. Either he had played dumb earlier about his lack of a sponsor or he had orders to stay quiet, but Barnaby Brooks Jr had the sponsorship of Apollon Media, TopMag's main competitor.

"Dammit," Kotetsu muttered to Antonio. "This is the worst."

"Why's that?"

"He's an Alpha. A _gay_ Alpha."

"You sure?"

"I noticed it after filming ended."

Not one to pry, Antonio let the subject stand and comforted Kotetsu with a very heartfelt, "That's rough, man."

Kotetsu shook his head at the cruelty at it all: a young, sexy Alpha for a rival company…

"—_has the power to increase his physical abilities a hundredfold, but only for a duration of five minutes—_"

…with Hundred power. He gritted his teeth. Fancy armor-suit, Hundred Power, Alpha. That kid was picked with the sole purpose of surpassing Kotetus, taking his baseline claim to heroism, his power, and improving on everything else, with superior technology, appeal, results, even Scenting.

The rest of the night failed to give Kotetsu a damn break as he placed sixth of seven heroes, spent the evening wandering the streets alone with his thoughts, and the next morning, he discovered TopMag had been bought out, and he had to meet his new boss (a stuck-up slave driver) who also informed him he had to be part of a hero duo: he would have a partner in the field.

And that partner just _had_ to be the arrogant wonder-Alpha, Barnaby Brooks Jr.

When Barnaby's motorcycle pulled up beside him, Kotetsu froze up, anticipating Barnaby's Scent to hit him at any second, but nothing happened. The kid ignored his stunned silence and did some techy button-pushing that converted Kotetsu's snazzy bike into a sidecar stuck to the side of Barnaby's. Without even giving Kotetsu time to protest, Barnaby revved his engine, prepared to drive off and leave Kotetsu stuck there on the bridge if he didn't get in.

When his mind finally processed the situation, Kotetsu flipped up his visor and voiced the most pressing concern of the moment: "Why am _I_ on the side?"

"You're an Omega," Barnaby answered.

"That's got nothing to do with this!"

"That has everything to do with this," Barnaby said. "We are a partnership at the orders of our company. Naturally, I will lead, and you will follow me."

"Like hell I'm going to follow you like I'm your—" Kotetsu stopped short as the motorcycle and sidecar passed the monolithic Steel Hammer statue. "Hey, hey, hey, you passed it! Go back!"

"No."

"You drove right past it!"

"Right."

"You have to go back!"

"No."

"What, do you have some kind of plan?"

"Yes."

"Then what is it? Tell me!"

The motorcycle slowed and stopped, overlooking the massive statue's path of destruction. "First, we'll gather information on the other heroes to avoid making a simultaneous entrance. That way, we'll stand out."

Kotetsu settled into the backrest of his sidecar and folded his arms. He thought it would be a reason like that. "How stupid…"

Barnaby looked back at Kotetsu. He felt the cold blue eyes of his mask narrowed at him, even though the plate couldn't actually form expression.

"Will we catch the culprit if we stand out? Will that bring peace to the city?" Kotetsu prepared to deliver the lecture that Barnaby had rudely interrupted during their first meeting, but Barnaby cut him off yet again."

"Our suits have air filters that prevent our pheromones from affecting each other," he said. "So I would suggest you closer your visor, unless you want me to demonstrate how Alphas dominate rebellious Omegas."

With that, Barnaby flipped his visor open, mouth twisted in a self-satisfied smirk. Eyes wide, Kotetsu slapped his mask back down as Agnes called them with her usual, "_Bonjour, heroes_."

So Barnaby not only knew that his Scent affected Kotetsu, but he also intended to use it as a bargaining tool, a weapon, if necessary. Then that meant he definitely noticed how close Kotetsu had been to letting Barnaby claim him back there on the iceberg. He'd have to be careful around this kid, and at every opportunity prove he wasn't the kind of Omega who hung his head and did as Alphas told him.

In the shuffle of arriving heroes, Barnaby ditched his own partner to make his oh-so-special, grand entrance. Well, Kotetsu didn't need him, either! Making his own evaluation of the scenario, Kotetsu engaged his wire gun and took aim for the statue's shoulder.

_I'll show you what sort of brilliant plan an Omega can come up with—without an Alpha! This is going to be so cool!_

* * *

It wasn't cool. It was just another mess.

And the Stick-Up-Ass boss chewed Kotetsu out for it, big time.

"Do you understand the situation you're in?" Lloyds lectured. "We have a contract with you to act as Barnaby's foil. You're his second—his assistant—his add-on—"

"His _Omega_?" Kotetsu growled. "What's the big idea, making an Alpha and Omega be partners? You knew we're cued for each other and you still threw us together!"

"Barnaby's application was under review long before we considered adding you to the picture. He could have easily become a hero without you. And your identical powers factored into the decision to keep you after the TopMag buyout at least as much as your Scenting did, if not more."

"But you want him to claim me! I can see this game you're playing! I've never had an Alpha—"

"If you don't like it, you can quit," Lloyds cut Kotetsu off with a snide glare. "Apollon has no plans at the moment to market your Scented status. Hero TV is another story, but they've been teasing your availability so long, it's become stale.

"Stale—?!"

"None of this is important at the moment. You still need to go and see our engineer. He's very angry with you; he designed that suit to protect you, and you spent most of yoru time out in the field with your visor up, not to mention failing to use your wires properly…"

"No one taught me this new system," Kotetsu complained. "It's confusing!"

"Then go have your lesson now!" Lloyds pointed very directly to the door. "And stop complaining until you get results!"

* * *

By the time Kotetsu returned home later that night, everything had improved, at least a little bit: a sweet end to a bitter day. Yes, Kotetsu's teamwork with Barnaby still sucked. But that young boy's life wasn't ruined. Barnaby saved Kaede, too, while Kotetsu saved everyone else. And to top it all off, Kotetsu came up with a totally brilliant nickname that drove his stuck-up partner up the wall.

_Bunny!_ Kotetsu sniggered again. It was still funny hours later, calling an Alpha a bunny. And the way Barnaby got so steamed up trying to order Kotetsu to stop that, literally shouting, "_I command you to stop that!_" how could he resist? Kotetsu placated himself, at least for the time being, with little weapons like this. So what if Barnaby possessed a Scent that shut down Kotetsu's brain and made him feel like a trembly-blushing schoolgirl? To Kotetsu, Barnaby was a cute little _bunny_.

But, that victory was fleeting. Kotetsu's transition to his new life at Apollon continued, and it continued to put him down. He felt like an unfavorite twin. Apollon Media kept making things in apirs, like the matched Chasers and suit pods, and they shared a transport and office space in a way that was lousy with two-for-one vibes. But Apollon still took every chance it could to highlight Barnaby alone: the representative of the company, the subject of the interview, or whatever other errand they wanted him to do.

Seriously, they were a hero _combo_. Shouldn't they be getting equal attention? Even with Barnaby as the sparkly new thing that everyone wanted to dissect, Kotetsu shouldn't be shoved aside like this. How did Apollon plan to market a duo if they only showcased one half of the partnership? Though, that might be the "second, assistant, add-on" effect Lloyds had talked about. Kotetsu _wasn't_ Barnaby's partner. He had an inherently submissive position, as if being an Omega paired with an Alpha didn't rub him the wrong way already. His role, as defined by Apollon, was to do Barnaby's bidding and make their star hero shine.

Kotetsu dreaded every second of it, but he particularly feared working in the double-cubicle right next to Barnaby. Spending eight hours a day exposed to Alpha Scent while working on super-boring invoices, damage reports, and incident reports. He might get an hour to breath cleanly during lunch, but Kotetsu had never faced such a challenge before, enduring the worst part of hero work while Alpha pheromones slowed him down. And not just any pheromones, ones that practically turned Kotetsu's mind inside out and made submissing seem like an insanely appealing option.

_Hero or Omega, Kotetsu. Never forget: hero or Omega._

Kotetsu and Barnaby moved into their desks on the very same morning, Kotetsu lugging a box of mementos and half-used, favorite supplies from his old job at TopMag while Barnaby carried a box of shrink-wrapped materials fresh from an office supply catalogue. Barnaby's overpowering Scent drifted from his side of the office to Kotetsu's, filling the veteran's head with a puffy, silken-cotton-ball fog. Moving around pens and picture frames suddenly felt like moving boulders underwater, and several times Kotetsu found himself staring at an object in his hand, unable to recall why he had picked it up or where he intended to put it.

It felt like days to Kotetus, but within thirty minutes, Barnaby slid his chair under his desk, the surface perfectly and ergonomically organized, not a single paper clip out of place.

"I'm going for a walk," he announced, likely for the secretary's benefit.

"Huh?" Kotetsu looked between his pigsty of supplies and his partner's picture-perfect desk. "You're done?"

"Yes. Now hurry and finish your work as well."

"What's the rush?"

Barnaby fixed him with a glare. "We have too much to do today to bother with petty _knickknacks_. I intend to finish all of my work today. Apparently, you don't."

_That's uncalled for…_ Kotetsu frowned. "If we've got so much to do, why are you going for a walk? It's a bit early to be taking a break, right?"

Barnaby turned his back on Kotetsu and left the office without giving an answer. Within five minutes, the air conditioning filtered out Barnaby's Scent, and Kotetsu could focus enough to get some work done. He finished giving his supplies new homes, set a pot of coffee brewing for some much-needed caffeine, and even made a surprising amount of progress on the Steel Hammer statue reports before Barnaby showed his face again.

"Nice walk?" Kotetsu asked. He took his last clean breath and held it as Barnaby sat down.

"It was fine," Barnaby answered. He sounded much calmer than before, and he began working on his own incident reports.

In barely a few minutes, the foggy-headedness returned. The numbers and letters all blurred on the pages, and not even running the numbers physically on his abacus could force his mind to focus. Whenever Kotetsu started to adjust to Barnaby's Scent, it shifted, and a whole different spectrum of those strange, secondary smells came to the surface, making his head spin again. Not to mention that a very distracting set of daydreams kept interrupting whatever he should be focusing on, almost all of them featuring Barnaby in some way touching Kotetsu: nuzzling his neck, running his hands down his chest or back, holding him in a close embrace, and princess-carrying him again.

_I don't want any of that!_ Kotetsu shook himself. _Especially not with Bunny!_

After an hour of completely unproductive wheel-spinning, Barnaby stood again, so abruptly that his chair rolled away two feet behind him. He retrieved it and shoved it back under his desk, plastic clacking against particleboard.

"'Nother walk?" Kotetsu slurred a little.

"I have an interview," Barnaby snapped, irritated and almost hostile. "And I don't see why you would care where I go."

"Your walk this mornin' was kinda long…"

"What's your point? I encountered someone I needed to talk to. But I don't have to explain myself. What I do or why doesn't matter to you. This isn't important. Stop asking questions."

"I'll ask any question I wanna," Kotetsu said, just so Barnaby understood he didn't win the day with his Alpha status. "Go do your interview."

Again, Barnaby all but fled from the office space. Massaging his temples, Kotetsu looked up at the secretary, a woman whose name he had yet to learn.

"Can you believe it?" he asked.

"Believe what?" she countered in a very no-nonsense tone Kotetus had a sinking feeling he needed to get used to, and fast.

"Did you see how rude he was? Kotetsu pointed to the door. "I didn't even do anything, and he just bit my head off! Twice!"

"I noticed."

"…So? Don't you think that was rude?"

The secretary adjusted her red-rimmed glasses. "All I know is, the sooner _you two_ can get over yourselves, the sooner _us three_ will have some peace."

"What? I didn't even do anything!"

"You're suffering, but you're not the only one. You two are stuck with each other, and you both need to learn how to live with it."

Kotetsu pouted and looked away. _I want some sympathy, and this is what I get?_ But the way she phrased it needled at him: "_you two, you both_." Sure, Kotetsu needed to build up his resistance to Barnaby's Scent, but what did Barnaby need to get over besides his own ego and attitude? The secretary couldn't be referring to the Scents. Barnaby's Scent definitely affected Kotetsu, but Barnaby was just being an asshole, like every other Alpha. He spent a long time around Kotetsu's own pheromones, sure, but nothing about him seemed lazy, cloudy, or unfocused. He was just an anal-retentive person, inflexible and uncompromising and unable to let things not go his way. Barnaby still clung to the notion that Kotetsu would obey him, as if he had already claimed the veteran Omega, even though they had avoided physical contact ever since their first meeting.

_Look on the bright side_, the hero thought. For there was a bright side: no matter how rude Barnaby acted, he liked getting out of the office whenever possible, which meant Kotetsu's nightmare of eight hours straight in an Alpha-addled office would not come to pass.

_Little victories. Little victories._

* * *

"_Next question, Barnaby, and all of Sternbild is waiting for your answer: are you Scented?_"

"_Yes, I am. I am an Alpha cued for males._"

"_Fascinating—Oh! This means you're compatible with your partner, Wild Tiger! Do you have any interest in claiming him?_"

"_Tiger has made his position on taking an Alpha abundantly clear. However, I'll say that if there are any developments in our relationship, he will tell you on the air himself._"


End file.
